Afterthoughts
by Maria - Madoka Ayukawa
Summary: Renji has some questions, and An has the answers. YanagixAn fic for 30 Flowers. COMPLETE.


**_"Afterthoughts"_**

A Prince of Tennis fic by Maria.

Written for: The Court Ladies Comm Fic Swap and 30 Flowers (theme 3: "Petunia" - resentment).  
Characters/Pairing: Yanagi Renji x Tachibana An. Allusions to Kirihara Akaya.  
Rating: PG.  
Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis (Tennis no Oujisama) is copyrighted by Takeshi Konomi and Shueisha.  
Summary: Renji has some questions. An has the answers he wants. Anime timeline, so this has spoilers up to the American arc.

---

He had seen the girl sometimes during his visits to Seiichi in the hospital, reoughly around the same time Rikkaidai faced Fudomine and Akaya, with his ultra-aggressive playing style, managed to soundly beat their captain and send him to the hospital - ironically, the same Seiichi was in.

Yanagi Renji, however, had never approached her. His top priority was his own captain; Seiichi rarely looked depressed, always trying to keep his spirits high, but being a man who almost always saw right through the people surrounding him, Renji knew that his friend still required all the support he could be given. So, if An Tachibana was there, he merely aknowledged her presence and didn't really care a lot about that, to not focus on anything but Seiichi. Besides, since she was the sister of Kippei Tachibana, he imagined that she wouldn't exactly like to speak to him, being Akaya's sempai and all...

Some weeks passed, and the Senbatsu camp came. Renji also chose to just be a witness to Akaya's troubles with the sub-captain of Fudomine, Kamio, and those who followed later. Not only because, Akaya specifically asked him to stay out of it during the only time they spoke about it, but because it was already time for the younger ace to see and assume the consequences that his own reckless actions brought him.

So, it was quite a surprise for Renji to hear a girl's voice calling to him once, during a short weekend visit to Tokyo. He was just done running errands for his grandparents and was about to check his schedule book to see when he had to meet up with Sadaharu late in the same afternoon, when...

"Hey... You're Yanagi Renji, aren't you?"

Apart of his sister's university friends, Renji hadn't properly spoken to any young females in his last visits to Tokyo. So, he was slightly confused for some seconds as he wondered which of them could be the woman speaking to him...

"Here, Yanagi-san. Long time no see. And first time I really talk to you."

Renji looked at the girl with pink barettes and jacket, white-and-pink shirt and dark brown miniskirt. "Ah, Tachibana-kun..."

"Yup, the same girl you never really spoke to at the hospital. Because yep, I remember that." She ddin't seem bitter about the issue, though. Either that, or she was a brilliant actress.

"I'm sorry about that," he told her. "I had other priorities, back then, and I also thought you woiuldn't like to speak either to me or to anybody from the team."

"Ah, no, Yanagi-san!" She shook her head vehemently. "Well, those weren't our best days, but that's just past... Anyway!" An smiled and looked at him playfully. "You seem to be searching for something outside of tennis to kill some time, and I just had to cancel an ouring with a school friend of mine. Care to walk a little with me?"

Renji checked his schedule... It was around 2 PM, and Sadaharu had told him to meet up with him at 4:00 PM. Meaning, he had two hours to spare. Going with An wasn't a bad idea, since he was curious to know who this girl was, behind her actual smile and the rumors about her temper outbursts...

"I'm no one to reject a young lady's invitation," he said, smiling.

---

An hour after they took off, Renji still hadn't found what he was looking for, in regards to An. She had showed him her favorite hang-out spotes apart of the famous street tennis courts that Sadaharu mentioned so many times, but he still wanted to know why did she exactly aproach him. Giving her an "amnesty hour" to let her spill the truth of her own volition hasn't really worked.

At that moment, Renji and An were walking down a quiet street, and happened to pass in front of a flower shop. An, like almost any young girl, stopped in front of it to stare at the pretty blossoms and plants on sale, blue eyes shining at the sight of roses, daisies, lillies...

This gave Renji a good idea. He mentally checked on his knowledge of Western floral language, and when done he went towards the shop assistant. "Miss, could you give me a small bouquet of those flowers, please?"

"Eh?" An blinked in surprise.

"Immediately!"

In less than five minutes, the shop girl gathered several pink and purple petunias and built a small bouquet, which she gave to Renji. He paid for them and handed them to An, noting on how her eyes went wide as he chose those over the more popular blossoms.

"Those are for you, Tachibana-kun," he told her quietly, ignoring the shop girl's giggles. "As my thanks for being my guide."

The younger student took the gift with slightly shaking hands. Judging from her expression, which reminded Renji of a deer caught in the headlights, she had guessed what were his intentions.

"Thanks..."

---

They walked away in silence. An was gingerly holding her bouquet in her hands, and Renji looked at her from the corner of his half-closed eyes. Finally, she stopped walking and sighed.

"... You're wrong, Yanagi-san."

Touché. So, Renji stopped as well and turned to his companion. "Can you tell me what's my mistake, Tachibana-kun?"

"I don't hate him anymore, if you wonder," she added quickly, pressing the flowers against her chest now. Renji didn't say anything, wanting to hear about An's thoughts on Rikkaidai, and more specifically on one of the team members... who caused quite the grief for Fudomine. "I'm no a floralia expert, but I do know what petunia flowers mean. Resentment. You gave me these flowers to more or less subtly ask if I still hate Kirihara-kun for what happened with my brother, didn't you?"

One of Renji's two specific questions was in its way to be fully answered. So, in a voice that was slightly gentler than the tone he usually spoke in, he made another question.

"Tachibana-kun, had I asked you directly, would you have been this honest to me?"

"Admittedly... nope." She looked at the ground for some seconds, cheeks just a little red. "But if you wonder, I'm not lying now. I do not hate him anymore."

"I never said you weren't telling the truth," was his calm reply to her. "However, since the very moment we met up, I've wondered how you felt about the subject, now that weeks have passed and both you and Akaya have had time to think of it."

He sighed. "I can tell you that, from what I've seen with my own eyes, Akaya has been working hard to sharpen all of his other tennis skills to avoid relaying on the one people call 'The Demon Mode'. I think he honestly wants to give up on the bad habits that have given him his... special reputation in the tennis circles."

An seemed relieved at that. "That.. sounds good, Yanagi-san. I believe you, after all it'd be useless to lie in anything you've said."

"And it'd be 100 ungrateful, after all you've done for me." He smiled reassuringly at the girl. "I really mean it, Tachibana-kun. I also think it's a good thing, seeing you and Akaya do your best to not let negative feelings lead your lives."

"Well, I do't think we'll become each other's favorite persons, to be honest." She lightly kicked the grond and stuck her tongue at Renji a bit. "But hey... like you just said, seems we won't be at each other's throats again. My brother wouldn't let me, if I tried; he, Kamio-kun and the rest of the Fudomine team were horribly upset at me for the Senbatsu incident."

"I, Seiichi and Gennichirou weren't exactly pleased when we found out, either. But.. didn't we say that it'd be better to let go of the subject itself now?" He checked on his watch. "I have almost an hour left before going to Sadaharu's place, and I'm still not fully sure of what were your reasons to ask me if you could hang out with me."

An couldn't resist laughing out loud. "I was happy to find someone to hang out with after an outing was bursted. Later, I felt relieved to tell someone from Rikkaidai that I'm not hateful... And right now, Yanagi-san, I'm glad to see that you had a good time. Looks like the hour we have left will be fun, too."

The girl got closer to Renji, took one of the flowers (a specially big and pretty purple one) from the bouquet and put it on his top pocket, since he wasn't wearing a jacket and this was the closest to a lapel on his shirt. Then, An took a step behind to admire her work and smiled.

"This is a reminder of how I'm not gonna let resentment bring me down. And a little memento of this date, whoops, outing, too!"

"Sadaharu will surely be intrested in knowing what happened prior to my arrival to his house..."

With a smile on his lips and the replies to all of his questions engraved in his memories, Renji started walking forward, and An followed him quickly.


End file.
